Racket with adjustable handle

ABSTRACT

A racket for tennis, squash, badminton or similar sports, which includes a handle of adjustable length; a handle grip of adjustable perimetric size; means for adjusting the weight of the handle and/or the head portion of the racket, wherein the several adjustable features may be coordinated to suit the requirements of a particular user of the racket and to optimize his playing ability; the adjustments being simply and readily made by the user with the aid of common hand tools.

O United States Patent 1191 Dean Sept. 3, 1974 [5 RACKET WITH ADJUSTABLE HANDLE 3,702,189 11/1972 Galich 273 73 J [76] Inventor: Jesse W. Dean, 3878 Cannon Pl., FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 3mm, 10463 17,636 7/1929 Australia 273/731 128,601 8/1948 Australia 273/73] [22] Flled' Aug. 1973 974,039 9/1950 France 273/73 .l [21] Appl. No.: 391,626 942,075 4/1956 Germany 273/73 1 219,535 7/1924 Great Britain.... 273/73 J Related PP Data 712,224 7/1954 Great Britain 273/73 .1 [63] Continuation of S81. NO. 196,425, Nov. 8, 1971,

abandoned- Primary ExaminerRichard C. Pinkham Assistant ExaminerRichard J. Apley [52] US. Cl. 2.73/75, 273/73 J Attorney, Agent or Firm philip Hilbert [51] Int. Cl A63b 49/08 [58] Field of Search... 273/73 R, 73 C, 73 D, 73 H,

273/73 J, 7s, 81 R [57] ABSTRACT racket for tennis, squash, badminton or similar [56] References Cited sports, which includes a handle of adjustable length; a UNITED STATES PATENTS handle grip of adjustable perimetric size; means for adjusting the weight of the handle and/or the head 313;: 2 portion of the racket, wherein the several adjustable 1:583:30) 5/1926 Reach I: .1 273/73 .1 features be Coordinated to the l m i 1,533,139 6/1926 Penney 273/73 H of apartlcular user of the racket and to optimize h1s 2,753,186 7/1956 Kleinman 273/75 playing ability; the adjustments being simply and 3,501,148 3/1970 Cheris et al. 273/73 J UX readily made by the user with the aid of common hand 3,540,728 11/1970 Palmer 273/73 J tools, 3,638,943 2/1972 Snauwaert.... 273/73 .l 3,674,267 7/1972 4 Claims, 3 Drawing Figures Hollis 273/75 PAIEMEB 8E? awn HE -LFIL M [WW Mi IIL ATTORNEY RACKET WITH ADJUSTABLEI-IANDLE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The conventional, standard tennis racket has dimensions which in part are derived from the height of the tennis court net at its center andmeasuring 36 inches. The total longitudinal measurement of a conventional wood racket is27 inches while the transverse dimension of the oval racket head measured at the minor axis thereof is 9 inches, which when added to the longitudinal dimension of the racket, gives the 36 inches dimension.

In the newer, metal frame rackets, most of which have head portions which are substantially round rather than oval; such head portions have a diameter of about 9 /2 inches. In this form of racket, the total longitudinal dimension is about 26 /2 inches. The aim is to add such dimensions to give the net height of 36-inches.

The purchaser of a conventional racket has a choice of light, medium and heavy weight constructions; and a choice of fixed grip sizes of 4% to 4% inches at /8 inches intervals. Should the purchaser have substantial muscular strength but a small hand, he will find that the heavy weight racketscome exclusively in grip sizes of 4 /8 or 4% inches. Contra, if he has relatively small or slight muscular strength and a relatively large hand, he will find that the light weight rackets have a grip size of 4% or 4 /2 inches.

The terms light, medium and heavy as applied to tennis rackets, are not standardized as to specific weights and vary with different racket manufacturers. Thus, a purchaser may find that the actual weight of a given racket may be somewhat greater or less then the optimum weight for such purchaser. I

Also, it is to be noted that there is no way of pretesting a racket at the time of its purchase to establish its court performance by the purchaser, since testing can only be done by actual use of the racket in play. This applies to dimensional and weight variations. In most cases, a racket which turns out to be ill suited tothe needs of a particular purchaser, can not be returned to the seller for exchange. At best, the racket may be returned with a refund of but a small part of the original purchase price.

While many tennis players can use standard, conventional rackets with little or no adverse affects on their play; it will be apparent that wide variations in physical attributes of individual players, including their height, arm lengths, hand sizes, as well as muscular strength and coordination would indicate that standard rackets having fixed parameters, may adversely affect the playing ability of a particular user of the same, to a greater or lesser degree.

In this connection, in U.S. Pat. No. 3,515,386 it is proposed to provide a tennis racket having a handle length of 10 inches as compared to the handle length of 14% inches in the standard racket. In the patent it is further suggested that the rackets have respective grip sizes ranging from 3% to 4 inches at V8 inch intervals. Such rackets are necessarily predimensioned as to handle length and grip size, thus requiring a large inventory of rackets to cover variations in handle length and grip size.

Accordingly, an object of this invention is to provide a racket having structural features which permit simple andquick adjustments of the handle length and the grip size to give a large variety of combinations of handle lengths and grip sizes which are coordinated to suitthe needs of a particular user of the racket.

Another object of this invention is to provide a racket having a pair of handle pallet members adjustably mounted on frame handle portions of the racket to selectively vary the effective length of the handle; each pallet member having its own hand grip covering of leather or other suitable material.

A further object of this invention is to provide a racket having means for adjusting the spacing between the pallet members forming the handle, to thereby vary the gripsize as desired.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a tennis racket which includes means for adjusting the weight of the head portion of the racket, and further for adjusting the weight of the handle portion of the racket, to thereby coordinate the weighted portions of the racket with selected handle lengths and grip sizes to suit a particular user of the racket Still a further object of this invention is to provide a racket wherein the adjustment of handle length, grip size, and the weight of the handle and/or head portions thereof may be made with the aid of simple hand tools such as a screw driver, wrench and the like.

Other objects of this invention will in part be obvious and in part hereinafter pointed out.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 is a plan view of a racket embodying the invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged transverse sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional view of the handle portion of the racket.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The racket of the instant invention comprises essentially an arrangement of parts and means for adjusting the handle length, the grip size, the weight of the head portion and the weight of the handle portion; such adju'stments being coordinated to suit the needs of a particular user of the racket and being of a character to allow the same to be made by the user.

Thus, as shown in FIG. 1, l0 designates a racket embodying the invention. The same comprises the usual head portion 11 which may be circular or oval in outline. The head portion 11 comprises a frame 12 of tubular metal having a concavo-convex cross section and including the outer concave portion 12A and the inner convex portion 128.

The racket 10 further comprises interwoven strings 13 mounted on frame 12 and converging frame portions 14 from which parallel extension portions 15 form part of the handle portion 16 of racket 10. A brace 17 completes frame 12.

The handle portion 16 of racket 10 comprises a pair of molded plastic pallet members 19 which are disposed in opposed relation and enclose extensions 15.

The pallet members 19 are formed with longitudinally extending recesses 20 in the inner surfaces 21 thereof, for receiving therein the extensions 15.

Means is provided for adjusting the longitudinal position of pallet members 19 with respect to extensions 15, to thereby adjust the effective length of handle portion 16. To this end, extensions are formed with a series of longitudinally spaced pairs of aligned openings 15A, 158 which are respectively located on walls 12A, 12B. The pallet members 19 are formed with openings 22 at the inner ends thereof fortransverse alignment and registry with aligned openings 15A, 158 in extensions 15. The pallet members 19 are also formed with openings 23 at the outer ends thereof for transverse alignment and longitudinally spaced pairs of openings 24 intermediate openings 22, 23, for transverse alignment.

The pallet members 19 are held together and in clamped relation to extensions 15 by bolts 25 and nuts 26; the bolts 25 passing through the registering openings 22, 23 and 24 in the pallet members 19 and selected pairs of openings 15A, 15B, thereby fixing the pallet members 19 in selected positions relative to extensions 15 and thus providing a selected effective length of handle portion 16.

Annular spacer discs 27 are mounted on bolts 25 and located between facing portions 128 of extensions 15 and inner surface portions 21 of pallet members 19. Recesses 28 formed by counterboring openings 22-24 in pallet members 19 receive the heads 29 of bolts 25 while recesses 28A also formed in pallet members 19 receive the nuts 26, thus leaving a flush outer surface 29 on pallet members 19.

Each of the pallet members 19 is provided with an outer covering 30 of leather or other suitable material, in contact with the outer surface 29 of the pallet members 19. The coverings 30 are secured in place by disposing the lateral edge portions 31 of covering 30 in longitudinally extending rabetted recesses 32 formed in inner surface 21 of the pallet members 19. Strips 33 to-- gether with screws 34 passing through spaced openings 35 in the strips 33, lock the edge portions 31 of covering 30 in place. The outer surface of strips 33 is flush with inner surface 21 of pallet members 19.

Preferably, the outer end portions of pallet members 19 secured together by bolt 25 and nut 26 and an intervening spacer disc 27, projects beyond the terminal ends of extensions 15 indicated at 15C, in all positions of pallet members 19 relative to extensions 15.

Thus, with only a screw driver, the screws or bolts 25 and nuts 26 may be used to lock the pallet members 19 in selected positions relative to extensions 15; access openings being formed in covering '30 to register with recesses 28 in pallet members 19.

The grip size of handle portion 16 may be adjusted by selecting spacer discs 27 of suitable thickness to adjust the spacing of pallet members 19, and thereby determine the perimetric dimension of the handle portion 16. The spacer discs 27 may be formed of molded plastic or metal. In the case of metal discs, they can be made in varied weights as well as thickness, to thereby allow for adjusted handle weight as well as grip sizes.

Also, by the use of additional bolts or screws 25, together with nuts 26, located in aligned openings in the pallet members and extensions 15, the weight of the handle portion may be adjusted to suit the user of the racket; such weight may be correlated with the handle length and grip size.

Further, the weight of the head portion 11 may be modified by the use of metal slugs 36 of selected weights. Such slugs 36 are secured to the concave portion 12A of frame 12 by small screws 37 passing through openings in slug 36 and received in threaded openings 38 in frame portion 12A at the topmost portion of said frame.

The pallet members 19 may be further provided with integral molded butt portions 19A to finish off the handle portion 16.

It will be apparent that the construction of racket 10 allows any user thereof to adjust the handle length, the grip size, the weight of the head and handle portions, or any one or any combination thereof, all in a coordinated manner to suit his particular need and preference with a view to improving his game. Thus, in effect, such racket is tailor made for the particular user, by the user with the aid of simple hand tools such as a screw driver,

wrench and the like.

I-claim:

1. In combination, a racket and set of handle spacer members, comprising, a racket having a head and throat portion and a handle portion, said handle portion comprising a pair of substantially parallel extensions extending from said throat portion, said extensions being in opposed relation, said extensions having a series of longitudinally spaced pairs of aligned openings therethrough said handle portion further comprising a pair of pallet members in opposed relation, said pallet members being disposed outwardly of said extensions for enclosing said extensions, said pallet members having a series of longitudinally spaced pairs of aligned openings therethrough said set of spacer members being of respectively different thicknesses and being of annular disc configuration, a spacer member selected fromsaid set of spacer members and being removably mounted between opposed portions of said extensions, and means passing through said spacer member and selected pairs of said aligned openings in said extensions and said pallet members for detachably and simultaneously connecting said pallet members, said extensions and said selected spacer member together for determining the effective length of said handle portion and for establishing a selected grip size of said handle portion corresponding to said selected spacer member.

2. A racket as in claim 1 wherein a separate outer covering encloses the outer portions of each of said pallet members.

3. A racket as in claim 1 wherein said set of spacer members having its respective members formed of selected weight to thereby adjust the weight of said handle portion.

4. A racket as in claim 1, wherein said connecting means comprises members of selected weight to thereby adjust the weight of said handle portion. 

1. In combination, a racket and set of handle spacer members, comprising, a racket having a head and throat portion and a handle portion, said handle portion comprising a pair of substantially parallel extensions extending from said throat portion, said extensions being in opposed relation, said extensions having a series of longitudinally spaced pairs of aligned openings therethrough said handle portion further comprising a pair of pallet members in opposed relation, said pallet members being disposed outwardly of said extensions for enclosing said extensions, said pallet members having a series of longitudinally spaced pairs of aligned openings therethrough said set of spacer members being of respectively different thicknesses and being of annular disc configuration, a spacer member selected from said set of spacer members and being removably mounted between opposed portions of said extensions, and means passing through said spacer member and selected pairs of said aligned openings in said extensions and said pallet members for detachably and simultaneously connecting said pallet members, said extensions and said selected spacer member together for determining the effective length of said handle portion and for establishing a selected grip size of said handle portion corresponding to said selected spacer member.
 2. A racket as in claim 1 wherein a separate outer covering encloses the outer portions of each of said pallet members.
 3. A racket as in claim 1 wherein said set of spacer members having its respective members formed of selected weight to thereby adjust the weight of said handle portion.
 4. A racket as in claim 1, wherein said connecting means comprises members of selected weight to thereby adjust the weight of said handle portion. 